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Beef Gravy

A rich beef gravy made by simmering beef, bacon or ham, vegetables, and herbs in boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Beef Gravy

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Beef Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the beef into thin slices and score them.

  2. Place the bacon or ham at the bottom of a stew-pan.

  3. Add the beef and bits of butter on top.

  4. Add the chopped carrot, onions, eschalot, celery, and sweet herbs.

Make the gravy

  1. Brown over the fire, shaking the saucepan occasionally.

  2. After 30 minutes, add 2 quarts of boiling water and scum well.

  3. Wipe the edges of the saucepan and cover tightly.

  4. Simmer for 3 hours by the side of the fire.

Strain and store

  1. Let it stand to settle, then strain into an earthen vessel.

  2. Store in a cool place.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the meat flavour and body that the gravy is built on.
Onions
Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften and brown with the meat.
Celery
Adds aromatic flavour to the stock as it simmers.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and aroma to the stock.
Bacon or ham
Adds salty, smoky fat and savoury flavour to the base.

The step that matters

Scum well after adding the water. Skimming the foam that rises as the liquid heats removes coagulated proteins and impurities, keeping the gravy clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, carrot, onion, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, carrot, onion, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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